Dynamics of Performance of Indian RRBs in the Post-Merger Era

Regional Rural Banks plays a crucial role in extending and lending agricultural and rural credit in India. Amalgamation and Recapitalization are some measures taken by the Government of India to strengthen the Regional Rural Banks for playing greater role in agricultural and rural lending. A number of policy initiatives were introduced to initiate the services of these banks in the unbanked areas. Mergers in India were of two types: - Merger between the RRBs under the same sponsored bank in the same state. - Merger of RRB sponsored by different banks of the same state. The study aims to answer the performance related questions on the two RRBs of West Bengal a state in India and suggest recommendations based on the study and findings. Both primary and secondary data has been analysed for the study. The secondary data was collected for nine (9) years and the responses of 400 customers were collected from various branches of these banks in four districts of the state.Secondary data analysis has been done using t-test and CAMEL Model and primary data analysis using ANOVA. The findings were positive and both the RRBs of the state performed better after their merger.